Many printing systems use printing fluids, such as inks. Some inks may be dye-based, and other inks may be pigment-based. After printing fluid has been printed on a substrate, the liquid carrier is evaporated leaving printed marks on the substrate.
In some printing fluids the liquid carrier is water, whereas in other inks other solvents are used.
Many printing systems offer a choice of selectable print modes. A print mode defines a collection of one or multiple printing system parameters that may be applied to a printing system for printing a print job.
One common print mode is a ‘draft’ print mode, which may configure the printer system to print a print job at the highest speed achievable by the printing system (for example, using a low number of passes in a scanning inkjet printing system) but with a reduced print quality compared to printing using other print modes.
Another common print mode is an ‘optimum quality’ print mode, which may configure the printer to print a print job at the highest print quality achievable by the printing system, but with a reduced throughput (for example, using a higher number of passes in a scanning inkjet printing system) compared to printing using other print modes.
Depending on the print mode chosen when printing a print job the quantity of printing fluid deposited on a substrate in any time period may vary considerably.